Oklahoma: Third Party Ballot Initiatives

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signs ballot access bill
Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill designed to make it easier for third parties to get on the ballot in Oklahoma.

by Randy Ellis Published: May 14, 2015

Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill designed to make it easier for third parties to get on the ballot in Oklahoma.

The new law, signed Tuesday, will reduce the number of signatures required to get a third party on the ballot to at least 3 percent of the total votes cast in the last general election for governor.

Currently 24,745 signatures would be required since 824,831 votes were cast for governor in Oklahoma in 2014.

Previous law

Before the new law, the number of signatures required to get a party’s name on the ballot was at least 5 percent of the total votes cast in the last general election for either governor or president.

That was particularly difficult following presidential election years, which typically have higher voter turnouts.

Following the 2012 presidential election year, 66,744 signatures would have been required in Oklahoma. Following the 2014 gubernatorial election year, 41,242 signatures would have been required.

House Speaker Jeff Hickman was one of the House authors of the House Bill 2181.

“Today marks an important milestone in Oklahoma history — a day in which the state Legislature and governor not only acknowledged the harmful nature of Oklahoma’s ballot access laws, but also made an effort to ease that burden,” the Libertarian Party said in a prepared statement.

The Green Party released a statement saying the new law “opens up the possibility for progress towards greater political representation and participation.”

The Green Party said it plans to continue to work to get the number of required signatures reduced further to 5,000.

This is possible to be accomplished for both the Libertarian and Green parties. However, it will require more than adequate coordination and exposure; obviously, word of mouth helps too. I am going to kindly request that citizens across the state look at this as a positive step forward to allow greater variety in elections. It's not getting rid of any parties, it's just getting additional ones added, initially. Anyone can sign the petition, Republican, Democrat, or Independent. Please put this on your list of things to watch for this Summer and talk to your friends and family who may also be interested.

One last comment: Nothing is wrong with competition. In fact, it could be argued that competition could make the parties better. This is about allowing greater freedom of choice in the otherwise two party tyranny, excuse me, system. So please, keep this bookmarked. If not me, then I know some of the other Oklahomans on here will try to keep this thread updated as much as possible.
Stay tuned.